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Welcome to 2020: a pivotal year for countries to substantially ratchet up their ambition under the Paris Agreement. Under the “ratchet mechanism” (illustrated below) countries are expected to submit new or updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that represent a progression compared to the commitments they made in 2015.

10.10.13

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Officials of the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund met in Paris this week to discuss how to raise and distribute money to combat global warming. Ned Helme, environmental expert and president of the Center for Clean Air Policy, issued the following statement:

The scenario has become too familiar: Diplomats squabble and nothing gets done. This week that pattern was broken. The Green Climate Fund’s board made significant progress toward its goal of distributing significant sums to developing nations to help fight global warming. The change in tone and tenor are significant. GCF board members rolled up their sleeves and made decisions that ought to allow European and other developed governments to contribute large amounts of money for climate improvement next year. The United States will hopefully follow suit soon thereafter. The world’s developed nations have pledged to raise $100 billion a year from public and private sources by 2020 for developing country’s climate policy actions. By agreeing to some key ground rules – including allocating funds on a competitive basis to the most transformational proposals – the GCF board’s decisions this week will help spur financial support for ambitious air pollution mitigation actions by both the public and private sectors. One issue left unresolved is how to encourage support for private sector investments that align with developing country mitigation priorities. But that’s a quibble. A lot was accomplished in Paris – for a change.

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Since 1985, the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) has been a recognized world leader in climate and air quality policy and is the only independent, nonprofit think tank working exclusively on those issues at the local, U.S. national and international levels. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CCAP helps policymakers around the world develop, promote and implement innovative, market-based solutions to major climate, air quality and energy problems that balance both environmental and economic interests.